This is an archive that contains all sound effects and music streams used in the game.

Block pointers are looked up with their identifier. This may not be necessary, but to be safe, I'd still place them in the documented order.

Some General Data Structures

These structures are used in multiple places throughout the bfsar.

File Header

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Magic number
0x4 - 0x6	BOM; always 0xFEFF (big-endian)
0x6 - 0x8	Header length
0x8 - 0xC	Version number, must be 0x20000 in NSMBU. Observed values in other games: 0x20000, 0x20100, 0x20200. Probably 1 byte pad, 1 byte major version, 1 byte minor version, 1 byte patch version.
0xC - 0x10	Filesize
0x10 - 0x12	Number of sections
0x12 - 0x14	Padding
0x14 - ...	Block pointers

Block Pointer

Offset is relative to the start of the file.

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x2	Identifier
0x2 - 0x4	Padding
0x4 - 0x8	Offset to block body
0x8 - 0xC	Size of block body

Block Header

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Ascii identifier
0x4 - 0x8	Block size

Offset With Identifier

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x2	Identifier
0x2 - 0x4	Padding
0x4 - 0x8	Offset

Item ID

An item id consists of both file type and file id:

Offset	Description
0x0	File type: 1=Sound (SE/WSD/STRM), 2=Sound group (WSDSET/SEQSET), 3=Bank (BANK), 4=Player (PLAYER), 5=Wave archive (WAR), 6=Group (GROUP)
0x1 - 0x4	Index into info reference table

Sound Archive (BFSAR)

BFSAR Header

Field	Identifier
Magic number	"FSAR"
String block pointer (STRG)	0x2000
Info block pointer (INFO)	0x2001
File block pointer (FILE)	0x2002

String Block (STRG)

The string block contains a string table and a search tree that's used to look up files by name. The search tree is similar to the search tree found in BFRES files.

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x8	Block header
0x8 - 0x10	Offset to string table (0x2400)
0x10 - 0x18	Offset to search tree (0x2401)

String Table

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	String count
0x4 - 0x4 + count * 0xC	String pointers

String Pointer

Offsets are relative to the start of the string table.

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x8	Offset structure (id = 0x1F01)
0x8 - 0xC	Length of string, including a null terminator

Search Tree

This is a patricia tree, similar to the binary search tree in BFRES files.

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Index of root node
0x4 - 0x8	Amount of tree nodes

Tree Nodes

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x2	A flag that's 1 if this is a leaf node
0x2 - 0x4	Search value, basically the bit index from the left
0x4 - 0x8	Left index, go here when the bit is 0
0x8 - 0xC	Right index, go here when the bit is 1
0xC - 0x10	String table index
0x10 - 0x14	Item id

Info Block (INFO)

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x8	Block header
0x8 - 0x10	Offset to sound info reference table (0x2100)
0x10 - 0x18	Offset to sound group info reference table (0x2104)
0x18 - 0x20	Offset to bank info reference table (0x2101)
0x20 - 0x28	Offset to wave archive info reference table (0x2103)
0x28 - 0x30	Offset to group info reference table (0x2105)
0x30 - 0x38	Offset to player info reference table (0x2102)
0x38 - 0x40	Offset to file info reference table (0x2106)
0x40 - 0x48	Offset to sound archive player info (0x220B)

Info Reference Table

Offsets are relative to start of info reference table.

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Count
0x4 - 0x4 + count * 8	Offset structures: Sound info: 0x2200 Sound group info: 0x2204 Bank info: 0x2206 Wave archive: 0x2207 Group info: 0x2208 Player info: 0x2209 File info: 0x220A

Offsets are relative to the start of the info structure. Depending on the flags, there may be more values behind the structures documented here. The optional fields are always 4 bytes long.

Sound Info

"actor player id" is unrelated to the player files in the bfsar.

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Index of FSTM, FWSD or FSEQ file in the file table
0x4 - 0x8	Player info table index
0x8	Initial volume
0x9	Remote filter
0xA - 0xC	Padding
0xC - 0x14	Offset to stream (STRM; 0x2201), wave (WSD; 0x2202) or sequence (SE; 0x2203) info
0x14 - 0x18	Flags
...	Flags & 1: String index
...	Flags & 2: 0x0000XXYY, XX = pan curve, YY = pan mode
...	Flags & 4: 0x0000XXYY, XX = actor player id, YY = player priority
...	Flags & 0x100: Offset to 3d info
...	Flags & 0x20000: Is front bypass
...	Flags & 0x10000000: User param
...	Flags & 0x20000000: User param
...	Flags & 0x40000000: User param
...	Flags & 0x80000000: User param

Sound 3D Info

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Flags
0x4 - 0x8	Unknown, float
0x8	Unknown
0x9	Unknown

Stream Sound Info

There can be up to 8 tracks.

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x2	Bitmask, I think this defines which tracks are enabled. Only the lower byte is read.
0x2 - 0x4	Number of channels (up to 16)
0x4 - 0xC	Offset structure to track info table (id=0x0101)

Stream Track Info Table

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Count
0x4 - 0x4 + count * 8	Offset structures (0x220E)

Stream Track Info

Offset	Description
0x0	Unknown
0x1	Unknown
0x2	Unknown
0x3	Unknown
0x4 - 0xC	Offset structure to mono/stereo information

Mono/Stereo Information

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Number of channels (up to 2)
0x4	Unknown byte for channel 1
0x5	Unknown byte for channel 2

Wave Sound Info

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Wave index in wave archive
0x4 - 0x8	Unknown
0x8 - 0xC	Flags
0xC - 0x10	Flags & 1: 0x0000XXYY, XX = Is release priority fix, YY = Channel priority

Sequence Sound Info

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x8	Offset to bank id table
0x8 - 0xC	Bitmask, I think this one is similar to the bitmask in stream sound info.
0xC - 0x10	Flags
0x10 - 0x14	Flags & 1: Start offset
0x14 - 0x18	Flags & 2: 0x0000XXYY, XX = Is release priority fix, YY = Channel priority

Bank ID Table

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Count (up to 4)
0x4 - 0x4 + count * 4	Bank item ids

Bank Info

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Index of FBNK file in the file table
0x4 - 0xC	Offset to wave archive id table
0xC - 0x10	Flags
...	Flags & 1: String index

Wave Archive ID Table

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Count
0x4 - 0x4 + count * 4	Wave archive item ids

Wave Archive Info

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Index of FWAR file in the file table
0x4	Boolean, might be related to individual wave files?
0x5 - 0x8	Padding
0x8 - 0xC	Flags
...	Flags & 1: String index
...	Flags & 2: Wave count

Sound Group Info

I couldn't find code that uses the offsets described here, so I can't figure out the size of the structures they're pointing to.

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Item id of first sound
0x4 - 0x8	Item id of last sound
0x8 - 0x10	Offset to something
0x10 - 0x18	Offset structure to unknown thing (0x2205)
0x18 - 0x1C	Flags
...	Flags & 1: String index

Sound Group Unknown Thing

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x14	Unknown

Group Info

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Index of FGRP file in the file table
0x4 - 0x8	Flags
...	Flags & 1: String index

Player Info

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Playable sound limit
0x4 - 0x8	Flags
...	Flags & 1: String index
...	Flags & 2: Player heap size

File Info

These structures are aligned to 0x4.

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x2	File location: 0x220C = internal, 0x220D = external
0x2 - 0x4	Padding
0x4 - 0x8	Offset to internal file info if internal, or to null-terminated filename string if external

Internal File Info

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x8	Offset into FILE block body
0x8 - 0xC	Filesize

Sound Archive Player Info

This is used to calculate the required memory size for some classes.

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x2	Unknown
0x2 - 0x4	Unknown
0x4 - 0x6	Unknown
0x6 - 0x8	Unknown
0x8 - 0xA	Unknown
0xA - 0xC	Unknown
0xC - 0xE	Unknown
0xE - 0x10	Padding in 2.0.0 and 2.1.0 BFSARs; normally 0x100 in 2.2.0 BFSARs

File Block (FILE)

This block contains the actual subfiles.

Wave Sound Files (WSD)

WSD Header

Field	Identifier
Magic number	"FWSD"
Info block pointer (INFO)	0x6800

Info Block (INFO)

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x8	Block header
0x8 - 0xC	Unknown
0xC - 0x10	Offset to wave sound data reference table

Wave Sound Data Reference Table

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Count
0x4 - 0x4 + count * 8	Offsets to wave sound datas (0x4900)

Wave Sound Data

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Unknown
0x4 - 0x8	Offset to wave sound info
0x8 - 0x14	Unknown
0x14 - 0x18	Offset to note info reference table

Wave Sound Info

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Flags
...	Flags & 1: 0x0000XXYY, XX = Surround pan, YY = Pan
...	Flags & 2: Pitch (float)
...	Flags & 4: 0x00XXYYZZ, XX = Biquad value, YY = Biquad type, ZZ = Low-pass filter frequency
...	Flags & 0x100: Offset to weird send-value related thing
...	Flags & 0x200: Offset to "AdshrCurve"-related structure

Sequence Sound Files (SE)

SEQ Header

Field	Identifier
Magic number	"FSEQ"
Data block pointer (DATA)	0x5000
Label block pointer (LABL)	0x5001

Label Block (LABL)

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Count
0x4 - 0x4 + count * 8	Offsets to label info

Label Info

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Unknown
0x4 - 0x8	Offset into data block
0x8 - 0xC	Unknown
0xC - ...	Label name

Bank Files (BANK)

BANK Header

Field	Identifier
Magic number	"FBNK"
Info block pointer (INFO)	0x5800

Info Block (INFO)

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x8	Offset to wave id table
0x8 - 0x10	Offset to instrument reference table

Wave ID Table

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Count
0x4 - 0x4 + count * 8	Wave ids

Wave ID

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	Wave archive item id
0x4 - 0x8	Wave index in wave archive

Wave Archive Files (WAR)

WAR Header

Field	Identifier
Magic number	"FWAR"
Info block pointer	0x6800
File block pointer	0x6801

Info Block

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x8	Block header
0x8 - 0xC	Wave file count
0xC - 0xC + count * 12	Wave file info

Wave File Info

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x8	Offset into file block
0x8 - 0xC	File size

Group Files (GROUP)

When the offset field of the BFSAR file info structure is -1, or when the file info structure is not found in the BFSAR info block, the game tries to find the subfile in the GROUP files.

GROUP Header

Field	Identifier
Magic number	"FGRP"
Info block pointer (INFO)	0x7800
File block pointer (FILE)	0x7801
InfoEx block pointer (INFX)	0x7802

Info Block (INFO)

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x8	Block header
0x8 - 0xC	Group item location info count
0xC - 0xC + count * 8	Offset structures to group item location info

Group Item Location Info

Offset	Description
0x0 - 0x4	File id
0x4 - 0x8	Unknown
0x8 - 0xC	Offset into file block